Skyscraper
TS Member
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The Alton Towers Music, Video and Other Multimedia Thread
Skyscraper
TS Member
Alton Towers have released this awesome drone footage of Nemesis to mark it's 25th anniversary! 
SWSmiler
TS Member
(Edit: Removed a few sound links due to them still being legally available and purchasable)
Hi there forks and knives. I thought I'd go ahead and share some music/sfx source discoveries from months of pointless research. Basically these are where the instruments or sound effects were taken from to create the various medias of listenings and ear related tasks.
Before I start, I thought I'd share this email I received from Graham Smart (yes THAT Graham Smart) from earlier this year after contacting him about what equipment he used for his work for Tussauds. The email details exactly that.
Now moving on to the point of this post. I'll begin with Duel.
The rock guitar SFX that played at the boarding station, as well as used in the theme to Duel, comes from the instrument sample library Steve Steven's Guitar by EastWest. In the 25th anniversary re-release, this is known as "Special FXs" under "Sitar and Guitar FXs" and can be played by playing the G3 note on a DAW software (I'll be providing audio demo links for each sound)
ROCK GUITAR SFX
[Link removed]
Of course, that's not the only Duel sound that comes from that library. Two other sounds are also used in the main theme composed by David Buckley. These being the A3 note of "Special FXs", the A4 note of "Distorted Dive Bombs and Bends", also under "Sitar and Guitar FXs", and even an actual electric guitar instrument sample called "Overdrive 5ths" under "Overdrive and Fuzz Guitars", which was used in not just the main theme and the queue line theme, but was also used for the theme to Scream from Heide Park.
A3 SPECIAL FX
[Link removed]
A4 DISTORTED DIVE BOMBS AND BENDS
[Link removed]
OVERDRIVE 5THS (Example shown is during the near climax section of the Duel theme, as well as the opening guitar to Scream theme)
Regarding sound effects that are heard on the ride itself, one of the scream sounds comes from the sound effects library Sound Ideas Series 4000 Hollywood. The creepy gate sound that was also used for Charlie comes from Sound Ideas General Series 6000 Extension 1. There's also the bat sound which I recall a completely different sound used, but the one stolen off Towers Nerd is from Hollywood Edge Cartoon Trax.
SCREAM SFX
[Link removed]
GATE SFX
[Link removed]
BAT SFX
[Link removed]
Next up is Hex, which certainly surprised me at first, since Hex's theme from what I know was live performed by a orchestra. However, one part of the theme features a string stab that comes from sample library EastWest Symphonic Adventures (aka where all those iMovie suspense themes come from). In the 25th anniversary re-release, it can be found by playing the note E5 on "Evil Mind 2 FX" under "06 Film Orchestra FX".
STRING STAB
[Link removed]
The Flume is ready to have its findings unplugged, and yes, I am talking about the quack sound, which comes from the sound effects library Sound Ideas Dimension, now known as "Sound Ideas Original Binaural", which originally released back in 1987 but was re-released in 2004, the same year the Flume opened. In addition, two other sounds that were used in the queue line theme also come from Dimension, being a water drain and splashing sound.
QUACK SFX
[Link removed]
WATER DRAIN SFX
[Link removed]
SPLASH SFX
[Link removed]
A very minor one, one of the synth effects heard in the 2008 theme for the Monorail, comes from another sample library known as Best Service XXLarge Club Edition 4, found via the G5 note of 4X EFFECTS.
G5 4X EFFECTS SFX
Finally, here's a couple of findings from the TV ad for Rita Queen of Speed. (the one with that mountaineer who gets stuck and calls for help.) The music heard in the beginning is a orchestra loop taken from EastWest Scoring Tools, known as both "Dooms Days" and "Nobody Home" in the 25th anniversary re-release. A string stab that plays right at the beginning of the ad, also comes from EastWest Symphonic Adventures, known as "Suspense 10". (You may recognize the second part of the stab heard in the example demo provided below from the music of the first Half-Life)
DOOMS DAYS/NOBODY HOME
[Link removed]
STRING STAB SFX
[Link removed]
Well that be all I have for the time being. Obviously that's not everything, though I am still continuing my search. Any future findings, I'll make sure to post here. Finally, if you happen to know of any findings or leads yourself, please let me know.
Ta ta!
Hi there forks and knives. I thought I'd go ahead and share some music/sfx source discoveries from months of pointless research. Basically these are where the instruments or sound effects were taken from to create the various medias of listenings and ear related tasks.
Before I start, I thought I'd share this email I received from Graham Smart (yes THAT Graham Smart) from earlier this year after contacting him about what equipment he used for his work for Tussauds. The email details exactly that.
Now moving on to the point of this post. I'll begin with Duel.
The rock guitar SFX that played at the boarding station, as well as used in the theme to Duel, comes from the instrument sample library Steve Steven's Guitar by EastWest. In the 25th anniversary re-release, this is known as "Special FXs" under "Sitar and Guitar FXs" and can be played by playing the G3 note on a DAW software (I'll be providing audio demo links for each sound)
ROCK GUITAR SFX
[Link removed]
Of course, that's not the only Duel sound that comes from that library. Two other sounds are also used in the main theme composed by David Buckley. These being the A3 note of "Special FXs", the A4 note of "Distorted Dive Bombs and Bends", also under "Sitar and Guitar FXs", and even an actual electric guitar instrument sample called "Overdrive 5ths" under "Overdrive and Fuzz Guitars", which was used in not just the main theme and the queue line theme, but was also used for the theme to Scream from Heide Park.
A3 SPECIAL FX
[Link removed]
A4 DISTORTED DIVE BOMBS AND BENDS
[Link removed]
OVERDRIVE 5THS (Example shown is during the near climax section of the Duel theme, as well as the opening guitar to Scream theme)
Regarding sound effects that are heard on the ride itself, one of the scream sounds comes from the sound effects library Sound Ideas Series 4000 Hollywood. The creepy gate sound that was also used for Charlie comes from Sound Ideas General Series 6000 Extension 1. There's also the bat sound which I recall a completely different sound used, but the one stolen off Towers Nerd is from Hollywood Edge Cartoon Trax.
SCREAM SFX
[Link removed]
GATE SFX
[Link removed]
BAT SFX
[Link removed]
Next up is Hex, which certainly surprised me at first, since Hex's theme from what I know was live performed by a orchestra. However, one part of the theme features a string stab that comes from sample library EastWest Symphonic Adventures (aka where all those iMovie suspense themes come from). In the 25th anniversary re-release, it can be found by playing the note E5 on "Evil Mind 2 FX" under "06 Film Orchestra FX".
STRING STAB
[Link removed]
The Flume is ready to have its findings unplugged, and yes, I am talking about the quack sound, which comes from the sound effects library Sound Ideas Dimension, now known as "Sound Ideas Original Binaural", which originally released back in 1987 but was re-released in 2004, the same year the Flume opened. In addition, two other sounds that were used in the queue line theme also come from Dimension, being a water drain and splashing sound.
QUACK SFX
[Link removed]
WATER DRAIN SFX
[Link removed]
SPLASH SFX
[Link removed]
A very minor one, one of the synth effects heard in the 2008 theme for the Monorail, comes from another sample library known as Best Service XXLarge Club Edition 4, found via the G5 note of 4X EFFECTS.
G5 4X EFFECTS SFX
Finally, here's a couple of findings from the TV ad for Rita Queen of Speed. (the one with that mountaineer who gets stuck and calls for help.) The music heard in the beginning is a orchestra loop taken from EastWest Scoring Tools, known as both "Dooms Days" and "Nobody Home" in the 25th anniversary re-release. A string stab that plays right at the beginning of the ad, also comes from EastWest Symphonic Adventures, known as "Suspense 10". (You may recognize the second part of the stab heard in the example demo provided below from the music of the first Half-Life)
DOOMS DAYS/NOBODY HOME
[Link removed]
STRING STAB SFX
[Link removed]
Well that be all I have for the time being. Obviously that's not everything, though I am still continuing my search. Any future findings, I'll make sure to post here. Finally, if you happen to know of any findings or leads yourself, please let me know.
Ta ta!
Last edited:
djtruefitt
TS Team
Christ! You certainly seem to know your way around random sound effects and music.
I imagine most of the Duel theme was done on the cheap (like the ride), so I bet most of the effects and audio is just off random keyboard sound effects. I’m sure back in the day with the haunted house it was all done themselves.
I imagine most of the Duel theme was done on the cheap (like the ride), so I bet most of the effects and audio is just off random keyboard sound effects. I’m sure back in the day with the haunted house it was all done themselves.
SWSmiler
TS Member
(Edit: Removed a few sound links due to them still being legally available and purchasable)
Told you I'd be back. Over this month, I've made a huge realisation that reveals a lot of the sources for the music of a specific ride, which we'll get to in a moment.
Let's get the less exciting discoveries out the way first. Continuing on with the Flume sound effect findings from the last post, I've find another one used in the queue line theme, this time coming from Hollywood Edge Cartoon Trax, that being the suck sound that plays before the "RIDERS YOU NEED TO BE AT LEAST 0.9M TALL TO GET WET".
SUCK SFX
[Link removed]
Next up, I discovered one of the synth loops heard in the theme to Air, which can be heard around the middle of the theme. This comes from sample library Spectrasonics Distorted Reality 2 named SQUEEPIN 110. The loop itself is still available today as part of Spectrasonics Stylus RMX Xpanded.
SQUEEPIN 110
[Link removed]
Finally, we move on to that huge finding I mentioned above. I think I might have found every(?) instrument source to the music heard in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride. So far from what I've found, the instruments come from 3 sample VSTs, EastWest Symphonic Orchestra (A library which is still used for TV shows and video games even to this day), EastWest Colossus (Now known as Goliath) and EastWest Symphonic Choir (I'm still yet to have a big dive into it, but I'm very certain this is where the choir samples heard during the great glass elevator are from)
Symphonic Orchestra covers (I believe) pretty much ALL the instruments heard in the main theme, while Colossus was used for those pre-show Wonka videos background music and the original onride audio that only ever played on the ride's opening year. So far, I've managed to match a lot of the instruments heard in the sample VSTs to the ones heard on the ride, though still more I need to locate. I've provided a demo example below with some of my findings. In order, this includes BCL Stac (Bass Clarinet), Orch chimes, 4TB Sus accent MOD (4 Trombones) and 18V Clstr & Air (18 Violins) (this sample is also used in Kevin Macleod's The House of Leaves)
CHARLIE EXAMPLE
[Link removed]
(My current findings from Symphonic Orchestra are: 18V Clstr & Air, 3 Snares, 4TB Sus accent MOD, BCL Stac, BSN Vib Xfade, Glock, Orch chimes, Harp Pluck Short, SCL Stac, Tambourine and Xylophone, and my current findings from Colossus are: 3 TP cupmutes, 3 TP falls MOD, 3 TP shakedoit MOD, Orchestra Hit and Upright Bass FX)
(If I find any more findings, I'll make sure to update)
That be all the time we have for today. Remember to be yourself and make sure to treat yourself to an extra sausage at tea.
Ta ta!
Told you I'd be back. Over this month, I've made a huge realisation that reveals a lot of the sources for the music of a specific ride, which we'll get to in a moment.
Let's get the less exciting discoveries out the way first. Continuing on with the Flume sound effect findings from the last post, I've find another one used in the queue line theme, this time coming from Hollywood Edge Cartoon Trax, that being the suck sound that plays before the "RIDERS YOU NEED TO BE AT LEAST 0.9M TALL TO GET WET".
SUCK SFX
[Link removed]
Next up, I discovered one of the synth loops heard in the theme to Air, which can be heard around the middle of the theme. This comes from sample library Spectrasonics Distorted Reality 2 named SQUEEPIN 110. The loop itself is still available today as part of Spectrasonics Stylus RMX Xpanded.
SQUEEPIN 110
[Link removed]
Finally, we move on to that huge finding I mentioned above. I think I might have found every(?) instrument source to the music heard in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride. So far from what I've found, the instruments come from 3 sample VSTs, EastWest Symphonic Orchestra (A library which is still used for TV shows and video games even to this day), EastWest Colossus (Now known as Goliath) and EastWest Symphonic Choir (I'm still yet to have a big dive into it, but I'm very certain this is where the choir samples heard during the great glass elevator are from)
Symphonic Orchestra covers (I believe) pretty much ALL the instruments heard in the main theme, while Colossus was used for those pre-show Wonka videos background music and the original onride audio that only ever played on the ride's opening year. So far, I've managed to match a lot of the instruments heard in the sample VSTs to the ones heard on the ride, though still more I need to locate. I've provided a demo example below with some of my findings. In order, this includes BCL Stac (Bass Clarinet), Orch chimes, 4TB Sus accent MOD (4 Trombones) and 18V Clstr & Air (18 Violins) (this sample is also used in Kevin Macleod's The House of Leaves)
CHARLIE EXAMPLE
[Link removed]
(My current findings from Symphonic Orchestra are: 18V Clstr & Air, 3 Snares, 4TB Sus accent MOD, BCL Stac, BSN Vib Xfade, Glock, Orch chimes, Harp Pluck Short, SCL Stac, Tambourine and Xylophone, and my current findings from Colossus are: 3 TP cupmutes, 3 TP falls MOD, 3 TP shakedoit MOD, Orchestra Hit and Upright Bass FX)
(If I find any more findings, I'll make sure to update)
That be all the time we have for today. Remember to be yourself and make sure to treat yourself to an extra sausage at tea.
Ta ta!
Last edited:
waffa
TS Member
Great work @SWSmiler ! What a great ear you have
ps the chugging guitars on Duel come from Hans Zimmer Guitars if you want to find them too
Also really fantastic to see a gear list from Graham Smart, very interesting! I managed to track Graham down over 10 years ago now and he gave me a lot of really kind advice over a long phonecall, I just wish i'd written down most of the content!
If you wish to find some samples Graham used, check out the Edirol Orchestral Spiccato strings , they have been used in various libraries in the 90s but still sound great today. You can hear them on Nemesis and the Towers Street Music.
Also some of the brass hits in that library are heard in the Haunted House Giant soundtrack.
Symphony of Voices also has some Nemesis sounds and the opening chant to the David Buckley Gloomy Wood track.
Sadly a lot of the amazingly innovative samples libraries of Graham's era haven't been archived so are just floating around the world waiting to be rediscovered!
ps the chugging guitars on Duel come from Hans Zimmer Guitars if you want to find them too
Also really fantastic to see a gear list from Graham Smart, very interesting! I managed to track Graham down over 10 years ago now and he gave me a lot of really kind advice over a long phonecall, I just wish i'd written down most of the content!
If you wish to find some samples Graham used, check out the Edirol Orchestral Spiccato strings , they have been used in various libraries in the 90s but still sound great today. You can hear them on Nemesis and the Towers Street Music.
Also some of the brass hits in that library are heard in the Haunted House Giant soundtrack.
Symphony of Voices also has some Nemesis sounds and the opening chant to the David Buckley Gloomy Wood track.
Sadly a lot of the amazingly innovative samples libraries of Graham's era haven't been archived so are just floating around the world waiting to be rediscovered!
SWSmiler
TS Member
(Edit: Removed a few sound links due to them still being legally available and purchasable)
Oh blimey waffa! You've certainly turned a boring day around.
I can indeed confirm that Duel used Spectrasonics Hans Zimmer Guitars Vol. 1 (128-JACKHAMR | Partition H > 128-JACKHAMR) and Gloomy Woods used Spectrasonics Symphony of Voices (BOY PHRASES played on C5 key | CD 3 > Partition D > 03 BOY PHRAS). Thanks so much mate!
Duel Example 2 (128-JACKHAMR)
[Link removed]
C5 BOY PHRASES
[Link removed]
Regarding the Nemesis strings, I'm a little bit skeptical. The spiccato string heard in Edirol Orchestral does seem to match, and I've also managed to locate what library it most likely would have come from back in the days, that being Roland L-CD702 Orchestral Family Vol. 1, a sample library compatible only with the Roland S-700 sampler series. (STR_Marcato 1aS | STR_Marcato Sect > STR_Marcato Sect)
Nemesis Example (STR_Marcato 1aS)
(WARNING: Very technical information below)
Unfortunately there's a couple contradictions with it that could suggest it's not the correct sample nor library. As I mentioned above, the library was only compatible with the Roland S-700 samplers. In the equipment list Graham sent me, he only had AKAI samplers, and I don't think Roland sample libraries were compatible with AKAI at the time. So either 1. He did have a Roland sampler and forgot to include it on the list. 2. He managed to somehow get the library to work with his AKAI sampler. Or 3. He didn't use the library at all. It could be possible however that the same sample is available on an earlier Roland library, or even on a different sample library released by a different company all together, as sample companies tend to share their samples with other sample companies.
(BTW if possible waffa, can you recall which patch from Edirol Orchestral are the Haunted House brass hits, as I've been unable to find them myself.)
Symphony of Voices was also released in 1997, so it definitely wouldn't have been used for Nemesis.
Other than that, thank you a zillion times for your help waffa. It means a lot to me!
Oh blimey waffa! You've certainly turned a boring day around.
I can indeed confirm that Duel used Spectrasonics Hans Zimmer Guitars Vol. 1 (128-JACKHAMR | Partition H > 128-JACKHAMR) and Gloomy Woods used Spectrasonics Symphony of Voices (BOY PHRASES played on C5 key | CD 3 > Partition D > 03 BOY PHRAS). Thanks so much mate!
Duel Example 2 (128-JACKHAMR)
[Link removed]
C5 BOY PHRASES
[Link removed]
Regarding the Nemesis strings, I'm a little bit skeptical. The spiccato string heard in Edirol Orchestral does seem to match, and I've also managed to locate what library it most likely would have come from back in the days, that being Roland L-CD702 Orchestral Family Vol. 1, a sample library compatible only with the Roland S-700 sampler series. (STR_Marcato 1aS | STR_Marcato Sect > STR_Marcato Sect)
Nemesis Example (STR_Marcato 1aS)
(WARNING: Very technical information below)
Unfortunately there's a couple contradictions with it that could suggest it's not the correct sample nor library. As I mentioned above, the library was only compatible with the Roland S-700 samplers. In the equipment list Graham sent me, he only had AKAI samplers, and I don't think Roland sample libraries were compatible with AKAI at the time. So either 1. He did have a Roland sampler and forgot to include it on the list. 2. He managed to somehow get the library to work with his AKAI sampler. Or 3. He didn't use the library at all. It could be possible however that the same sample is available on an earlier Roland library, or even on a different sample library released by a different company all together, as sample companies tend to share their samples with other sample companies.
(BTW if possible waffa, can you recall which patch from Edirol Orchestral are the Haunted House brass hits, as I've been unable to find them myself.)
Symphony of Voices was also released in 1997, so it definitely wouldn't have been used for Nemesis.
Other than that, thank you a zillion times for your help waffa. It means a lot to me!
Last edited:
waffa
TS Member
No problem!
So yes you're correct that sample companies tended to share their samples, the Spiccato strings were I think also on an old old Peter Siedlaczek library , so one of your theories is probably correct.
Could be similar with Symphony of Voices? I think it's the ligetti fx or clusters if you have the library, I could be wrong!
Re The Haunted House brass sound, annoyingly i don't have Edirol anymore, BUT if you try and find a patch with some Brass Rips and Runs you'll recognise them throughout the Giant soundtrack.
So yes you're correct that sample companies tended to share their samples, the Spiccato strings were I think also on an old old Peter Siedlaczek library , so one of your theories is probably correct.
Could be similar with Symphony of Voices? I think it's the ligetti fx or clusters if you have the library, I could be wrong!
Re The Haunted House brass sound, annoyingly i don't have Edirol anymore, BUT if you try and find a patch with some Brass Rips and Runs you'll recognise them throughout the Giant soundtrack.
ChristmasPud
TS Member
This is very interesting thank you both! Graham Smart's music is the most creative and memorable of any British park music in my opinion and a big inspiration to me. Maybe in a few years I will understand everything being said in your posts..!!
StajBeetle
TS Member
And Darkest Depths!
Genuinely one of my favourite theme park soundtracks ever
Hes also uploaded Freak Show:
Genuinely one of my favourite theme park soundtracks ever
Hes also uploaded Freak Show:
SWSmiler
TS Member
Time for another update me thinks.
Thanks to waffa, I think I've managed to finally locate the correct(?) sample library that the Nemesis string spiccatos are from, that being Masterbits Peter Siedlaczek's Orchestra, which released back in 1988. (SPIC G#3-D6). I had about 50 test hearings on both the sample and the sample used in Nemesis and I have concluded that this does seem to match, so yay, one of Graham's sample libraries has been located! Only 5 billion more to go.
Now time for today's big finding, with a lot of it coming from The Flume's main and queue line themes. The funky guitar loops pretty much spammed in the queue line them come from a long-discontinued VST software called Steinberg Virtual Guitarist and the standalone expansion to it, Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition. From VE, the patch "Wah Wah" and its loop patch "3. 7th Chords 3" is used, and from VE:EE, the patches "Funk - Octaves" (1. Funky Oct 1) which is used in the main theme, and "Wah - Single Note" (2. Monkey) are also used. In addition to all that, the saxophone sample used in the second part of the main theme's piano solo comes from EastWest Quantum Leap Brass (TS BWEBSTERS), which can also be found in EastWest Goliath. There's still the last guitar loop that I'm still trying to locate in VG, and I believe the other sax samples used in the main theme are also from QL Brass, but I've been unable to match any at the moment.
Below is a demo of all four mentioned samples played in this order (3. 7th Chords 3 > 1. Funky Oct 1 > 2. Monkey > TS BWEBSTERS)
Flume Demo
I've also had a brief listen to the Duel 2018 theme that was posted above, and I recognized some EastWest Symphonic Orchestra (the same library used for Charlie) samples, which being the xylophone and the v18 clstr & air loop. I'm probably gonna have a bigger dissect of it in the future, and I'll try to see if I can contact Simon to ask what he used.
Welp, that be it once again. Until next time, ta ta!
Thanks to waffa, I think I've managed to finally locate the correct(?) sample library that the Nemesis string spiccatos are from, that being Masterbits Peter Siedlaczek's Orchestra, which released back in 1988. (SPIC G#3-D6). I had about 50 test hearings on both the sample and the sample used in Nemesis and I have concluded that this does seem to match, so yay, one of Graham's sample libraries has been located! Only 5 billion more to go.
Now time for today's big finding, with a lot of it coming from The Flume's main and queue line themes. The funky guitar loops pretty much spammed in the queue line them come from a long-discontinued VST software called Steinberg Virtual Guitarist and the standalone expansion to it, Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition. From VE, the patch "Wah Wah" and its loop patch "3. 7th Chords 3" is used, and from VE:EE, the patches "Funk - Octaves" (1. Funky Oct 1) which is used in the main theme, and "Wah - Single Note" (2. Monkey) are also used. In addition to all that, the saxophone sample used in the second part of the main theme's piano solo comes from EastWest Quantum Leap Brass (TS BWEBSTERS), which can also be found in EastWest Goliath. There's still the last guitar loop that I'm still trying to locate in VG, and I believe the other sax samples used in the main theme are also from QL Brass, but I've been unable to match any at the moment.
Below is a demo of all four mentioned samples played in this order (3. 7th Chords 3 > 1. Funky Oct 1 > 2. Monkey > TS BWEBSTERS)
Flume Demo
I've also had a brief listen to the Duel 2018 theme that was posted above, and I recognized some EastWest Symphonic Orchestra (the same library used for Charlie) samples, which being the xylophone and the v18 clstr & air loop. I'm probably gonna have a bigger dissect of it in the future, and I'll try to see if I can contact Simon to ask what he used.
Welp, that be it once again. Until next time, ta ta!
Skyscraper
TS Member
Merlin Backstage recently uploaded 4 new videos on YouTube regarding maintenance, guest safety and other things. What are everyone's thoughts on them?
